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Thursday, December 1, 2016

TROUBLEMAKERS in the CHURCH-by David Wilkerson

We need more troublemakers in the church! I pray that everymember of the body of Christ would become a troublemaker! Weneed an army of troublemakers who have become so full of theHoly Ghost they will stir up and trouble New York City and everyother city around the world; trouble their wicked institutions -challenge the established dead churches - trouble the leaders,the mayors, the city councils, the community leadership! In otherwords, we need Holy Ghost troublemakers moving in the Spirit,proclaiming the kingship of Christ so effectively that whole citiesare stirred!

Paul and Silas were two the world's biggest troublemakers! TheBible speaks of "men that have risked their lives for the name ofour Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 15:26, NAS). Paul, Barnabas, Silas,and Timothy were such men, walking in the power of the Spirit.As seen in Acts 16, when the Holy Ghost forbid them to speakthe Word in Asia, they obeyed. When they tried to go to Bithynia,but the Spirit would not permit them, they went instead to Troas,under the Spirit's direction. Paul then had a vision of a mancalling them to Macedonia, so they set out immediately toPhilippi, the chief city of Macedonia. When they arrived, a fortuneteller followed them about, crying, "...These men are the servantsof the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation"(Acts 16:17). After enduring it for many days, Paul turned and"...said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christto come out of her. And he came out the same hour" (Acts 16:18).Suddenly the whole city was in an uproar: this fortune teller wasapparently a big tourist attraction, but now she was healed andpraising the Lord!

Paul had upset the status quo. He had challenged the devil whohad been having his way for years. The slave-owners of thedelivered woman then dragged Paul and Silas into the market-place to stand trial before the city magistrates. The charge was,"...These men... do exceedingly trouble our city" (Acts 16:20)."And the multitude rose up together against them: and themagistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast theminto prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks" (Acts 16:22-24).It looked as though Satan had won. The new converts must havebeen stunned! But all the power of God is with Holy Ghosttroublemakers! "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, andsang praises unto God... and suddenly there was a great earth-quake, so that the foundations of the prison was shaken: andimmediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bandswere loosed" (Acts 16:25-26). The jailer, seeing what hadhappened, even fell down before Paul and Silas, saying "...Sirs,what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). Those city officialsand religious leaders went to bed thinking, "We did it to them!That's the last we will hear of those vagabond troublemakers. Wereally shut them up and scared them!" But what a commotion thenext day! I can imagine sergeants knocking on the doors of themayor, city council members, and the religio us leaders, tellingthem, "Quick! Get down to city hall - we've got a big problem!"

In a state of shock, the officials probably responded, "What? Anearthquake? The prison doors opened? Their chains all fell off?They didn't even try to escape? The jailer joined their faith?They're Romans?!?" Now, they were really afraid. It was a crimeto beat Roman citizens (Paul and Silas were both Romans)."What do you mean they won't budge from our jail? They demandwhat? For us to come down and apologize and escort them outof jail? " And they came... and brought them out... begging themto leave the city" (Acts 16:39).

I love it! Here they were, not flaunting their spiritual authority, butmerely acting as ambassadors of King Jesus. As they hadwitnessed Christ's power being mocked, Paul and Silas nowwanted that little riverside prayer group to see how God manifestsHis power to those who stand up against the forces of hell. Theywent directly to the house of Lydia - and what a meeting thatmust have been! I would think Paul told that house group, "See!The devil can rage, the powers that be may threaten - but Godhas all the power! God will stand by you if you take a stand!"

I preach a great deal on prayer and I believe in the effectual,fervent prayer of the righteous. But praying alone, praying by two'sand three's, or even in a large prayer meeting will not alone shakea city! Elijah was a man of powerful prayer, but it was more thanhis prayers that shook Ahab's kingdom and enraged Jezebel: Hecalled the false prophets to Mount Carmel and challenged them.Jezebel had slain God's prophets and led Israel into apostasyand the horrible idolatry of Baal worship - and no one hadchallenged her! Seven thousand believers had not bowed, but theywere silent, unknown, and afraid. So along comes Elijah, thetroublemaker! Ahab called him "the troubler of Israel!" (1 Kings18:17). Elijah ended up at the Brook Kishon with a sword in hishand, slaying hundreds of Baal's false prophets "in the name of Jehovah."

Elijah was not a polite gentlemen with the devil and his crowd.While "...they leaped upon the alter... Elijah mocked them[derided them]" (1 Kings 18:26-27).

The church of late has cowered before the powers of darknessdue to the lack of holiness, for the Scripture tells us, "...Therighteous are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1). Some will say, "ButJesus was meek - He never opened His mouth or resisted whenthey took Him to be crucified!" But that was because the hourof darkness had come, the hour He was to be given into the handsof the enemy. He was not silent in the temple when driving outthe money-changers. He was not silent when calling religiousleaders serpents - blind guides - whited sepulchers - a brood ofvipers (see Matthew 23). He even told some boldly that Satanwas their father!

Many churches today are full of silent, gentlemanly diplomats,not wanting to make waves! Nobody wants trouble! So the devil'skingdom goes unchallenged. We have more than enough smiling,mousy Christians!......